The set-up: The Kansas City Royals dropped Tuesday's series opener 5-3 at Detroit but won last night, 8-2. The Royals and Tigers will play the rubber match of this three-game series Thursday afternoon, as the Royals look to capture their sixth straight series. KC is 12-5 in that span and at 38-38, has climbed with 2 1/2 games of the Indians in the AL Central. The Tigers continue to flounder, having lost nine of 11 overall and seven of their last 11 at home. They are 34-43 overall, seven games back of Cleveland.

The pitching matchup: Jakob Junis (2-1 & 4.97 ERA) starts for KC and Michael Fulmer (6-6 & 3.29 ERA) for Detroit. Junis is a 24-year-old who is making a sixth straight start, after appearing out of the bullpen in his first two major league appearances. He has two quality starts in his last three outings, after allowing two runs over 6 1/3 innings in a no-decision against Toronto on Friday (KC won 5-4). This marks his first appearance against the Tigers. Fulmer, who was ROY in the AL last season, has recorded a quality start 12 times in 14 outings in 2017 but is just 6-6 and the team 7-7 in his starts. That's a far cry from the Tigers going 19-7 in his 2016 starts, when his moneyline mark of plus-$1292 was sixth-best among all starters. In fact, he has dropped five of six decisions since the middle of May. Fulmer does owns a 2.36 ERA in four career starts versus Kansas City (he's 1-2 and Detroit 2-2).

The pick: I wouldn't give up on Fulmer too soon, as he's pitched better than his record. In fact, he's off an excellent performance in his last outing, giving up one run on two hits with eight strikeouts in seven innings but received no run support in a 1-0 loss to the Padres. Junis has proven little so far and I'll stick with Fulmer and make Detroit an 8* play.